Germany advances to semifinals of United Cup against Australia

Alexander Zverev led Germany to the United Cup semifinals with a pair of key victories in a 2-1 upset of Greece on Friday in Sydney, Australia.

The Germans, seeded 16th, fell behind in the opening match when Greece's Maria Sakkari steamrolled Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-3, winning the first nine games before Kerber got on the scoreboard.

Kerber was playing just her third singles match -- all this week -- in 18 months after taking time off to give birth to her first child.

Zverev evened the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in a contest pitting the world's No. 7 and No. 6 players, respectively. Zverev was the sharper of the two, committing just nine unforced errors to 24 for Tsitsipas.

The results of singles play left the mixed-doubles match as the decider for the semifinals berth, with Zverev and Laura Siegemund giving Germany a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Sakkari and Petros Tsitsipas and ousting No. 2 Greece.

Germany will meet No. 15 Australia in one semifinal on Saturday, while No. 1 Poland will clash with No. 4 France in the other.

The final will be on Sunday.